employed

i am no longer a dreg on society- i got a job in the Facilities Department at Simpson University being a paper pusher...literally. i create and track paper trails of everything from who fixed that broken sprinkler to who is renting the off-campus housing. Not what i want to do with my life by far, but it pays pretty well, i get to work with my fun friend Dee, and i can get out of the house for something other than spending all of Josh's hard-earned money. Simpson has a good record of promoting from within, so hopefully i'll be able to put in my dues and find something better suited to my abilities. And i guess it's also a good sign that within 24 hours of working there, my boss asked if he could borrow one of my Nintendo games. Last week while Josh was in Sacramento working i painted, wallpapered and decorated our bedroom to within an inch of its life, so now the total of rooms we've "Markle-ized" in our new house is.............ONE. WOOHOO! Anyway, it was fun and all and he liked the surprise, but it struck me as such a 'stay-at-home-wife' thing to do (i don't even have the 'raising kids' excuse!): "Look honey, while you were hard at work, i redid the bedroom! Don't worry, the throw pillows were %10 off!" i knew i needed to find a job. i didn't realize that Redding would offer so little, or that what it did offer would be so hard to find, but i have to have faith that i can stick it out at Simpson until i find a position i can really shine in. Until then, i'll just have to bring my own sparkle, push the limits of the 'no flipflops rule', use the power of Nintendo to my advantage.
Oh yeah, my official title is Facilities Secretary and my predecessor's name was Pam, how great is that? (if you do not watch The Office you A. will not understand why that is great and B. are living an incomplete life.

Postsecret

One of my favorite sites is Postsecret. People put their secrets on postcards and mail them to a guy named Frank in Maryland, who posts some on the Web every Sunday and has compiled a few books out of them. Some weeks there are themes to the secrets and this week's theme is fathers. The following blurbs are responses to this postcard (if the picture doesn't show you should still be able to click on it to see):

"My dad used to say that inside of the car's air-bags was uncooked popcorn. When you wrecked the popcorn would pop and you would have a snack until help came."

"When I was little, my dad told me ATMs worked by having little monkeys inside them. I believed that for years. Now I work in a bank, and wish it were true!"

"My dad told me the worst swear word you could possibly say was "Bostonian". It meant "someone who has no private parts." My brother and I used the word until we were teenagers and my father giggled every time we said it, right before he sent us to our rooms."

"When i was little my dad told me that polyester was a small animal in Australia & they would kill it to make clothes. That night i sat in my room reading the labels on my clothes for hours & threw all of the polyester ones away."

"When I was little my Dad told me that the tune played by the ice-cream van was the ice-cream man letting everyone know that he'd run out of ice-cream."

"When we'd approach exits or toll booths, my father told me the sound the car made when it went over the rumble strips was the car getting angry because I had been bad. I still sit up a little straighter when I hit a rumble strip."

And finally, my own dear father once told us he had a crooked nostril because he'd insulted my mother's stew and she had punched him in the face. i lived YEARS of my life believing my mom was that defensive of her cooking. i might have even told a few people. Sorry mom. Blame dad.

-kallie

"Is it cold in here? i feel a chill." -Satan

i owe many, many apologies to many, many fans of the Harry Potter series. It is everything you all always said it was, and this literary snob is humbled. i thought it was hype, i thought it was asinine, i thought it was waste. i thought wrong. Rowling is brilliant and i have a crush on Harry (even though i know that makes me kind of a weirdo) and i desperately want Guilderoy Lockhart's autograph and my own owl and i want to be the third Weasley twin and i want Snape to like me and i think Ron is beyond hilarious and so on and so forth. i cannot read these books fast enough; i'm thankful it has taken me this long to get acquainted because now i can read them all back to back to back without having to wait for the next one to come along. i can't wait to do my own Harry Potter film festival and you're all invited. Owls too.

-kal

catching up

Sooo, Memorial Day Weekend: i drove through the trees to Portland to visit Katie and Bobby, who took me to the rose-less rose gardens and all over that great Northwest city. Saturday Katie and i did even more driving, going to Seattle to attend Rachel's bebe shower (they made us give parenting advice....we made stuff up). Afterward we got see Rachel's house and Taylor's nursery before we did more driving back to P-land. At this point i was averaging 6 hours/day in the car. Sunday meant brunch with the Flath Clan because it was Katie's sister's birthday: a very enlightening experience, as anyone who's lived with Katie can surmise. i might have to have brunch there every time i visit Oregon. Out of 8 people i was one of 3 who weren't medical professionals or future medical professionals!! Families are funny. Anyway, then KaBob and i saw the movie 'Hot Fuzz' and pretty much died laughing/being scared. More on that later. We did a Borders trip so i could audiobookize my drive back home, then scooted our buns into night church and dinner. Later? easy-bake cookies and fancy wine, a fun combo. Monday morn i drove back home, only to be twenty miles from Redding when the Evil Cal Trans Holiday Weekend Crew closed a lane of the Shasta Lake bridge; it took me two hours to go 13 miles. Thank Baby Jesus i filled up in Yreka. Josh, left to his own devices for three nights, had decided to cook, so i was greeted with a bellyfull. Unfortunately, no magical elves had come and landscaped my yard, painted my house, or shaved my kitty in my absence. Thanks to Katie and Bobby for being super hosts/tour guides! i had mucho fun, can't wait to make another visit!